I put down my shoes and sit on the smooth, warm rocks with Adam right beside me. “I’d have thought Wheeler would have told you everything last night.”
“I want to hear it from you,” he says.
“Why me?”
“Because when Wheeler said about the manipulation last night it affected you more than the others. What am I to you?”
I slide my hand into his. He looks down at it like it is something foreign, but he laces his fingers in my own, and then looks back up to my eyes. I can feel my heartbeat over every inch of my skin, and I know that it’s now or never.
“Everything. You’re everything to me,” I say, my voice trembling. “And this is breaking my heart.”
His thumb starts to trace familiar circles on my hand and he slides even closer still. “You’re all I think about, yet at the same time, I can’t look at you without feeling emptiness in my chest. You look at me, and you don’t say a word, yet I feel like you’re screaming at me, like I’m missing something. I think I’m going crazy.” His words sail out on a quick breath.
“You’re not going crazy,” I say, taking his paint splattered face in my trembling hands.
He inhales sharply at my touch, but doesn’t pull away. Wrapping a hand around my wrist, he moves his face closer to mine until I can feel his breath on my lips. His free hand tucks my hair behind my ear. “Can we try for that kiss again?” he whispers.
Every nerve in my body fires as those green eyes bore into me. I nod, and his lips brush mine.
“I said midnight,” says Jude’s voice from above us. He hangs over the railings with a cigarette drooping from his lips. “Sorry, Lovick, but I need to steal my little Telekin away from you. Get your ass moving, Princess.”
“Shit,” I murmur, grabbing my shoes. “I’ve got to go. I’m sorry.” I rush back across the beach, up the slope, and head to the club. “Give me two minutes.” I shout back at Jude.
Golding is perched on Seth’s knee, and Yana and Haydn are making out when I enter. I’m deflated that Jude interrupted Adam and I, but just the knowledge that he was going to kiss me makes up for it.
Golding jumps up and pulls me aside. “How did it go? Haydn told us about Adam,” he says, grinning.
“Gold, I need you to cover for me,” I whisper.
He eyes me suspiciously. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you later, but please just cover for me. I’ll be back before closing.” I say. I kiss his cheek and make my way out of the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“Hell no,” says Jude, looking at my paint covered clothes. “I’ve just had her valeted.”
“I haven’t got anything else, and it’s pretty much dry.”
He sighs and gestures for me to get in. “Did you manage to get away alright?” he asks.
“Yes, but what about Adam?”
I glance back across the car park. He has emerged from the beach and eyeballs us.
“We don’t need to worry about Lovick,” says Jude, driving passed Wheeler’s, slowing to a crawl.
Wheeler emerges from the club with two men I don’t recognise. They clock the car, and Wheeler’s mouth falls open slightly when he sees me sat in the passenger seat. Adam’s stare is on me. I hold eye contact. Jude nods to them, and then puts his foot down, sending my stomach into my back. We speed out of the car park and on to the quiet country lanes.
“It’s not the paint you need to worry about,” I say. “I sometimes get motion sickness, you know?” I gulp hard to force the bile taste back down my throat.
Jude laughs, lowering my window. “Woman up,” he says.
The wind whipping through my hair is refreshing. It’s nice to have a break from the humidity. “Where are we going?” I ask.
“Not far.” He flashes me a sideways glance, and then readjusts his grip on the wheel. “Can I ask you something- something personal?”
I shrug. I wouldn’t have thought Jude as the personal type of guy. A tremor of unease creeps into my gut.
He adjusts his grip again. “What kind of life did you have with your mother?”
Okay, I definitely didn’t expect that. He keeps his eyes on the road. How do I start to answer that?
“Shana was a drunk,” I say. I want to see how it feels to be telling him something so intimate. I’ve only opened up to Adam about Shana, but technically he doesn’t remember, so it feels like I’m telling Jude my secrets. It’s not so bad. “For a while, I hated her, but now I think I understand why she did what she did- kind of. Drugging me was the only way she could think to help me, but it didn’t work. You saw the footage of me at Facility One. I don’t blame her for wanting to hand me over to Roscoe.”
The car swerves, and Jude ups the speed. His knuckles are white from squeezing the wheel. “She would never have betrayed you like that!” he spits.
I shrink away from his outburst, and he looks hurt by my recoil.
“She was an alcoholic first and a mother second. Who knows what was going on in her head? I’m just saying that, maybe, I don’t blame her.”
He shakes his head. “She loved you. She wouldn’t have betrayed you like that.”
“You didn’t know her? What is this? Why are you so concerned about my mother’s motives?”
He slams on the brakes and the car skids to a stop. The seatbelt digs in hard against my breast bone and my head slams into the head rest. He doesn’t give me chance to curse him. He pulls out his wallet and hands me a picture from inside. I drop it onto my lap as if it is burning hot. The image is of a younger, teenage Jude with his arm around a smiling Shana, who is holding a toddler- me. Jude is holding one of my hands up in the air. I’ve got a toothy grin.
“Shana was my half-sister from my father. I’m your Uncle,” he says. “Your mother loved you, Theyda.”
I throw open the door and vomit down the side of the car. I await his moans at how he just had the car washed or some rubbish, but they don’t come. He takes my hand, but I pull away from him.
“You’re my Uncle? The man who had Norah and Boyd shot is my Uncle?” I shout, getting out of the car. I slam the door and start to walk. That’s why I have felt a connection with him. It explains my telekinesis too.
“Get back in the car, Princess” he shouts through the window. “I couldn’t compromise bringing you in safely. They were Gabe’s orders not mine. I never pulled the trigger—”
“Because you were out of rounds,” I scream at him.
“That’s what I said, but I had plenty. I’m not in the game of killing Norms.”
“Don’t call them that. They have names, Norah and Boyd.” I start to jog ahead to the lights in the distance.
He rolls the car alongside me. “Okay, Non- EVO. Just get back in the car.”
“Why’d you chase me and Maggie with the van? I thought you were going to kill us.”
“I had to make it look like I was doing my bit. I couldn’t show bias toward you. If Gabe ever found out that you’re my niece, he—”
“He’d what? Kill you? Kill me? News flash, Jude, I’m not expecting to walk out of this alive anyway.” Now I’ve said it, the thought scares me.
Headlights approach from behind, and Jude straightens in his seat. “Get. In. The. Car’.
Ignoring him, I march on. Wheeler’s car pulls up behind Jude’s and Adam jumps out.
“Teddie?” Adam calls, but I don’t reply.
He leans in Jude’s window. I can hear voices, but not what is being said. I wonder what spiel Jude is giving him- she’s drunk, she’s unwell? After my panic at the club, Adam must think I’m a basket case.
Jude’s engine roars as he accelerates. He stops beside me, out of earshot from the others. “Wheeler will give you a lift. They’re going where we’re going, anyway. I’ll see you there,” he says, and then roars away.
Adam runs up the road to me. “Are you alright? Jude said you were sick. You’re shaking.”
I hadn’t realised that I am physically shaking from head to foot. I fee
l a little woozy and need to steady myself with Adam’s arm. My brain has now fully turned to stew and just one more revelation might see it leaking out of my ears.
Adam makes one of the guys in the back sit up the front, so he can sit with me. I’m sandwiched between Adam and a tattooed guy I haven’t met before.
“Was Jude pissed that you threw up in his car?” the guy asks, laughing.
“Something like that,” I say.
Adam watches me, but I stare straight ahead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
It’s only another couple of minutes before Wheeler drives into a small village. The houses are tinier and shabbier than the apartments dotted along the sea front. Terraces of white buildings with peeling paintwork stretch out in front of us. Wheeler drives around the back, parking between a pickup truck and a crumbling garden wall.
Jude’s leans, arms folded, against the bonnet of his car waiting for us. The obligatory cigarette hangs from his mouth. “You guys go ahead. I need a word with my little Telekin,” he says.
Adam’s brow furrows and he stands firm beside me.
“You know, for someone who’s forgotten all about Teddie, you don’t half hang around her like a bad smell. Go, Lovick,” he barks.
I slouch against the bonnet beside Jude, scuffing at the uneven ground with my foot. I’m no longer shaking, but there is a good chance I might puke again. Adam takes a final glance over his shoulder before heading inside the decaying door of the only house with lights in its windows.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have dropped it on you like that, but it’s done now. I’m fine with you hating me. I just wanted you to know the truth.”
I think that’s the most emotion I’m going to get out of Jude.
“She never spoke of you,” I say, quietly.
He nods and looks up to the clear sky. “Her priority was you. It wasn’t long after that photo that I got in with Gabe. Shana had already taken you away from Isaac because of his connection to Gabe through Tess, and when she heard I was involved with them, she cut me out too. She kept every aspect of your life separate from the EVO world. Even your father never knew of my ability. There’s nothing much more to tell. We hadn’t spoken since 2002.” He flicks his hair back out of his face.
“Then, two days ago, I hear Gabe throwing your name around. Theyda ain’t a common name for a nineteen-year-old, right? I’ve done some terrible things, but I’m not a cold-blooded murderer either. Gabe has taken the concept of the E.N.C and twisted it into something dangerous. Once he gets Tess, if he gets Tess, he’s going to use her to bring the world to its knees. That’s why I’ve bought you here.”
The effect of my near kiss with Adam is wearing off and my body aches from exhaustion and shock. Jude blows out smoke and it catches in my throat.
“These things will kill you,” I say, snatching the cigarette from his mouth and stamping it out with my foot.
He looks like he’s about to lose his rag, but instead, he just laughs to himself and takes my hand. I allow him the gesture, and we weave our way up the overgrown pathway to the rotten door.
The door opens up into a small lounge full of men and women. Some are sitting; most are standing where there is an available space. All look shocked to see Jude enter holding my hand, Adam included. I recognise some faces from around the complex and the club. They all seem to know who I am.
Jude stands for a moment, taking in all the expectant faces. At a glance, there must be at least twenty people here. Adam and Wheeler lean against a side board with Seth. Seth smiles when he sees me. He, too, is still covered in paint.
Jude brings me closer, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I don’t mind, I’m glad of the stability.
“Okay, Princess, this is the new and improved E.N.C,” he says, smirking. “Everyone this is Teddie. Teddie’s our newest member,” he says, grinning at my outraged expression. He pushes me into the room. “Lovick will look after you.”
Adam takes my hand and guides me through the crowd to Wheeler and Seth. He stands me just in front of him, so I can feel his breath against my hair. I reach back for his hand, but he pulls it away from me.
“Why are you here?” he whispers into my hair.
“I want the truth,” I reply, reaching back for his hand again. My fingers stroke over his, and he hesitates for a moment before taking a step back. My euphoria at our near kiss is quashed in a heartbeat.
“What’s this meeting about, Jude?” says a voice from the back of the room.
“They have finalised a date for the Facility One rescue. It’s this Saturday,” Jude replies. He lets the information sink in.
“That’s less than two days?” says a purple-haired girl in dungarees. She looks the same age as me with a beautiful, phoenix tattoo snaking up her neck and into the shaved side of her scalp. “And what? You expect us to be ready to stage a fricking revolution?” Her use of ‘fricking’ contradicts her tough girl exterior.
“You’re confusing me with Gabe, October. If we’re going to do this, we need to be discreet. Brains not brawns win wars. We let them do all the leg work, and Gabe will bring her right to us like bloody Santa.”
“And what will you do with Tess once you get her- if you get her?” I ask. Jude’s attention snaps in my direction, along with everyone else’s in the room. I doubt they expect me to speak much, if at all. “She’s in a coma, remember? Do you have life support equipment, a doctor to care for her?”
His lips purse and turn down at the edges. “I’ll do what’s best for her.”
“You’re going to let her die? So, that’s why you haven’t bought Isaac in on this plan of yours,” I say. “You know he won’t let you hurt Tess. If you kill her, you’re no better than Gabe.”
“Jude, why have you bought her here?” asks an older man with a voice like a forty a day smoker. He gives me a wary look. “She obviously can’t be trusted.”
I turn my attention to the gruff guy. “You’re happy to have an innocent woman killed and you say I can’t be trusted.”
“Do you know the repercussions to us all, to the world, if she falls into the wrong hands?” He stands and squares up to me. Adam steps one leg in front of mine, and gruff guy grins. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Adam. She needs to have her eyes opened to the big, bad world. I thought you of all people would see that. There are no such things as heroes and villains. You’re living in the black and white, while the rest of us are in the shitty grey. Tess doesn’t only have dual ability, she has the very abilities to get into all our heads and use us like puppets. If Gabe finds a way to use her, the Norms won’t stand a bloody chance. If the Norms find a way to use her, we don’t stand a chance. Tess was a friend to us. Don’t you dare think for one minute that we’re taking this lightly.”
A piercing pain ignites behind my left eye. ‘Listen to them’. Did I think that? Did I hear it? I blink away the spots from my vision, rubbing at my throbbing forehead.
“Tess has been in a coma for six years. I know she’d want to be released from the hell she’s been in,” says a woman stood by the window. “That’s if they get out of Facility One alive.”
My head bursts with pain again. ‘Not safe’. I grip Adam’s sleeve to steady myself. My head is splitting.
“How do we even know she is there?” I say, looking to Adam. “You said you don’t remember seeing her or that room at Facility One.”
“No, I don’t, but I also said that Gabe wouldn’t put in this much time and effort if he wasn’t sure,” he says.
“There seems to be a lot Lovick doesn’t remember, eh Teddie?” says a man at the back, laughing.
I brush the comment off. “None of it fits. We’re missing something,” I say.
“I agree,” says October. “Yes, Isaac is a Grade 6, but why was Gabe so intent on getting him here? Surely, there are enough powerful E.N.C members to storm Facility One? Why did it have to be Isaac?”
“Gabe knows that Isaac will do anything to protect Tess. He feels Isaac is the only o
ne he can trust to pull this off. After all, he’s done it twice before, and his history as an EVO-TORO means he is trained for combat,” says Jude.
October rolls her eyes. “Okay, so why not have Isaac rescue Tess when he rescued Teddie and her friends?”
“Exactly,” I say to her in agreement.
She nods, a smile creeping in the corner of her deep plum lips.
“I’m not a damn Telepath,” Jude snaps. “No one knows what goes on in Gabe Kersey’s head. Isaac thought Gabe had killed his sister. Perhaps, Gabe knew that Isaac wouldn’t believe him unless he saw the evidence for himself. Isaac has been hidden. Gabe used Teddie to draw him out. Anyway, that doesn’t matter now. What matters is ensuring that Gabe has control over Tess for as little time as possible.”
A murmur of agreement resounds from the crowd. I shake my head, glowering at Jude from across the room. So much for finding out the truth, these people are no wiser than Isaac. They won’t hear what October and I have to say. We’re just a couple of clueless girls to them.
Another piercing headache rips through my vision. ‘Not there. Not safe’. I stagger back against Adam. He rights me before anyone notices. Is someone doing this to me? I glance around the room, but see no one untoward.
“Are you alright?” Adam whispers.
I turn to look at him. He touches my top lip with a finger and it comes away bloody.
“What’s up?” Jude asks.
“Nose bleed,” Adam says, pinching a tissue over my nose.
Jude’s brow furrows in concern, but he quickly shakes the expression away. “Tonight, was just to inform you all about the new development. Tomorrow, we plan. Be here for 9pm,” he says, sweeping out of the house.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
My nose bleed subsides before we even make it back to Wheeler’s car. The two guys from before have disappeared, so Seth decides to get a lift back with us. Jude has already gone.
The purple-haired girl, October, catches up with us and pulls me aside. “Here, take this,” she says, handing me a small scrap of paper. “I feel for you.” She touches my shoulder gently and her eyes crease as if she is in physical pain. Gruff guy shouts her name, and she waves to him dismissively. “That’s my Dad, kudos for standing up to him.” She sprints back to the house beside the one we have just been in.
EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set Page 22